TheCorporateCounsel.net

April 28, 2016

Survey Results: Impact of Auditing Standard #18 on D&O Questionnaires

Here’s the survey results from this survey about how Auditing Standard #18 is impacting D&O questionnaires:

1. Did you update your D&O questionnaire in response to the PCAOB’s new Audit Standard #18 regarding related-party transactions?
– Yes – 66%
– No – 34%
– It hasn’t come up yet – 0%

2. Did your independent auditors ask for a list of immediate family members of directors and officers?
– Yes – 65%
– No – 31%
– It hasn’t come up yet – 4%

3. Did your auditors also ask for information regarding entities over which your directors, officers & their immediate family members control or have significant influence?
– Yes – 65%
– No – 30%
– It hasn’t come up yet – 6%

4. If you did update your D&O questionnaire, did your auditor ask you to do so?
– Yes – 44%
– No – 31%
– Not applicable because we didn’t update our questionnaire – 24%

5. If you did update your D&O questionnaire, will you also be seeking quarterly certifications or updates from your directors and officers?
– Yes – 16%
– No – 59%
– Not applicable because we didn’t update our questionnaire – 26%

Please take a moment to participate anonymously in this “Quick Survey on Registration Statement Due Diligence” – and this “Quick Survey on Proxy Mailing Practices.”

Class Actions: Accounting-Related Suits Increase

As noted in this Cornerstone Research study, the number of securities class action lawsuit filings raising accounting-related allegations rose in 2015, as did the number and value of accounting-related securities suit settlements. In addition to the increase in the number of accounted-related lawsuit filings, the market capitalization losses associated with those new filings increased as well.

Governance 360 Evaluations

In this podcast, Dave Bobker of Rivel Research Group discusses research into how your shareholders are receiving your engagement messaging:

– Where did you grow-up?
– How did you get into the proxy solicitation business?
– What was it like at Georgeson back in the early days?
– You are now with Rivel Research, what do they do?
– What is a “perception study”?
– What is the “Corporate Governance Intelligence Council”?
– How can shareholders – both portfolio managers & proxy voters – provide anonymous input to companies about their governance engagement efforts?

Broc Romanek